The Si'dhae War
The Si’dhae War Any study of the so called “Si’dhae War” will lead the reader to quickly understand that the events leading up to and the direct cause of the conflict are not so easy to delineate. At the heart of the conflict many factors play a huge role, not the least of which is the machinations of the En’Thromii demigod Marrok and the bitter resentment felt by the Si’dhae against the younger gods of Atheros for the so called infringements on what the Si’dhae saw as their birthright during the lead up to and the time after the event known as the Sundering. In short the Si’dhae war was nothing more than postponement of a conflict that was much older; a conflict that had catastrophic results for all of Atheros and its people; the War of Souls. To understand the Si’dhae conflict with the En’thromii, one must understand the very reason for the fall of Atheros as the two are bound within the same origins. In the beginning of the Time before, Atheros was a magnificent creation of the perfection of Il’Wae’Maddi’s mind, a utopian plane of existence where greater and lesser beings coexisted and worked together, each filling a role within the grand design of the Mother of all things. Those beings who had journeyed from the beyond with Il’Wae’Maddi had the ability to work wondrous magicks by channeling the energy of the world around them. These beings were known would become known as the Immortals. Nothing more than a conduit for the energy of Atheros, these beings began to covet the power and where they could only transform; seeking ways to store it up; to work larger more grand acts of art and engineering. It was soon discovered that the very source of the power of Atheros was the energy carried by the lesser beings created by Il’Wae’Maddi. These energy reserves were the physical manifestation of the essence breathed into the life of each being by the Mother of All; the soul of the being. These being were to become known as the Mortals. Immortal and Mortal, two parts of one whole, working as a unified effort to expand creation into something greater. To say that Il'Wae'Maddi was an idealist is a fair conclusion on any reader's part for in this arrangement were sown the seeds of power and domination. The Immortals who could focus and use the energy began to covet it, gathering more and more Mortals to their cause, drinking in the pure essence of the souls of those whom they co-created with. This relationship soon became a relationship of leader and follower, devolving in time to master and servant. Thus was the Pantheon of the Immortals created; the so called Younger Gods elevating themselves to divinity and turning those who once walked as equals with them to worshipers. With only so many mortals in existence, the demand for worshipers outgrew the supply and soon, those twisted and corrupted by the taste of power would begin to scheme and plan on ways of drawing Mortals away from their fellow Immortals. The side effect of this was that some Immortals would find their power growing, while others diminishing. This went on until Immortals figured out the only way to stop their rivals was to kill their rival's followers. No Immortal would dare kill another; this was a taboo of the highest order but those who had once been their equals, now relegated to the roll of cattle were another matter. Some Immortals encouraged breeding and over the course of time grew their power reserves. Others took what power they had and created other beings to attack and kill the mortal followers of their peers. Thus the realm of Atheros was devastated with ages of strife and politics, domination and slavery of the Mortals. Not every Immortal participated in this conflict; many struggled with their own diminishing power base trying to rein in their power-drunk peers and re-establish the harmony and perfection that was Atheros. Their efforts were in vain. In the end, The Elder Gods, the true children of Il’Wae’Maddi, intervened with the aid and might of the Spirit Lords of Atheros - the manifestation of the wild beings that were of the Goddess Unarath. At their fore was the fearsome being known as Lykaois. The exact details of the Concord of the Divine, the Sundering of Atheros and the creation of the Border lands is recorded elsewhere, however it is the fallout of these central events that caused the beginnings of the conflict between the En'Thromii and the Si'dhae. The En'Thromii were created as soldiers, warriors of the Elder Goddess Nihaluu, to ensure the survival of the world of her sister Unarath and the Mortals that lived upon it. Much of the Lore of the 1st Epoch reveals an unceasing hunt for those who would flaunt the concord of the divine; a duty that they pursued with diligence, ruthlessness and savagery borrowed from their powerful sire. It was their duty to find and destroy the physical portals that had been created to travel beyond the physical realm through the veil into the newly formed Il'Thirr. They were exceedingly good at it. This brought them into direct conflict with the Si'dhae. During the Sundering the Si'dhae fractured into two separate Hives; the Ilume Si'dhae and the Nostra Si'dhae; light and dark. No Si'dhae wanted the sundering to occur for theirs was an existence with rich ties to Atheros and the nether realm beyond in which the touch of chaos always summoned them. Like addicts to strong drink the race as a whole opposed the sundering. It must be pointed out that the Si'dhae were a by-product of the creation of the Mortals of Atheros. The Si'dhae were strongly connected to the physical essence of Atheros, the unseen touch of Chaos at its boundaries and the magic of their creation. The separation of Mortal and Immortal within their race had gone unnoticed as they lived at the edge of Atheros in frivolous existence. Theirs was a world of magic, of excess and of comfort and pleasure; the Immortals holding court as gods of excess of all manners feeding off the inherent instabilities of their own power. Those Immortals mocked the Pantheon and refused to join with their Immortal kin during the rise of the Council of the Divine; the body of Immortals that formed the governing group that brought about the Sundering. Despite their opposition; there existed among the Si'dhae factions that understood the need for such separation that had been proposed by Nihaluu and Pfyros. This group was to become known as the Nostra and sided with the En'Thromii during the later conflict. The Ilume chose to fight it and found ways in which to profit hugely from the sundering. The Ilume Si'dhae and the Wylds. When Atheros was sundered, the realm was separated into the realms of Mortal and Immortal with only the Elder Gods being able to touch both. On one side Atheros was torn into infinitesimal number of other realms; planes of existence based on the preference of the Immortal that dwelt there. These planes were linked in what would become the Shadow Land or the Il'Thirr. The Il'Thirr was kept separate by the Border Marches; no man's land between the physical world of Unarath; the world of the Mortals and the realms of the Immortals. None could pass between the worlds save by passing from Mortal existence into Immortal Existence by ascension or more commonly by physical death. This was a law put in place to cut the Immortals off from the power source that had sparked the War of Souls. The law was enforced by Lykaois and the beings that would become known as shadow wolves; shadowy animal spirits that served the great wolf lord as his guardians. Many Immortals were destroyed testing the will of Lykaois in the early years of the 1st Epoch. The Si'dhae by nature of their creation, and the wyld magicks that made up the matter of their being, also created a space that was known to them as the Wylds. This was a place of Chaos and order, random beauty, sensual stimulation and unpredictable currents of magic and elemental power. This place was not a realm as such and was more a state of being; a place forever outside the realm of Atheros and the Il'Thirr because of the touch of chaos upon it but forever linked to both Unarath and the Il'Thirr. This convenient side effect of its existence now gave the Si'dhae exclusive control over passage from one side of the Veil to the other without having to risk death at the hands of the dread guardians; a fact the Si'dhae quickly capitalized upon becoming powerful and wealthy within Unarath and sowing discord and imbalance among power hungry Mortals cut off from their Immortal Patrons. The Immortals saw this too as a way of continuing covertly the efforts to gain more followers and lessening the followers of their opponents. For many centuries the passage of Mortals who sought wealth, power and fame from Unarath through a Si'dhae gate on both sides of the Wylds permitted the flaunting of the concord of the divine and threatened to cause a re-ignition of the War of Souls. During this time Marrok, third offspring of Nihaluu, had fractured from the family group and struck out on his own seeking a power base in which to build upon in order to enhance his own plans for ascension to Godhood. He found in the Ilume a collective desire to have one of the offspring of the dread guardian on their side; a way of balancing the odds against the powerful hunters arrayed against them. it was with the Si'dhae that Marrok is thought to have gained a mastery of Wyld Magic and may have in fact formed an agreement or pact of some form with the sentience that is the essence of chaos. It is believed that the Wylds are how he was able to travel between the realms for so long. The Ilume leaders fell under the sway of the honeyed words of the Silver Wolf, easily manipulated into acting in Marrok's interests in exchange for knowledge of En'Thromii tactics, abilities and locations of their most sacred artifacts. Numerous Lupinar were destroyed as a result. Not much detail is truly known of Marrok's involvement in the Si'dhae war as he was still not strong enough in power or knowledge to act overtly against his kin however well documented facts place him in close proximity to major events surrounding this conflict over the space of several decades. Sometime during this cooperative effort between the Silver Wolf and the Ilume, Lykaois confronted the Si'dhae Immortals. It is unrecorded what the dread Wolf Lord said to the Si'dhae Immortals, but it ensured almost pathological compliance from the Nostra, who made it a death sentence for any non Si'dhae found in the Wylds and their Si'dhae gate keepers; but resulted in the Ilume Immortals refusing to comply, retreating into the Wylds and beginning a conflict with their Nostra cousins to keep their flow of wealth and power open. Thus their portals in Unarath remained numerous and operational. Marrok is thought to have been an influence in this. This remained the situation until Lykaois turned the growing number of En'Thromii loose upon the Ilume. Entire communities of Ilume were wiped out at the hands of the En'thromii hunters, the same savagery being reciprocated upon En'Thromii communities by the Ilume acting on information provided to them by Marrok. This conflict became known as the Si'dhae War and continued for generations until the final act of savage destruction occurred at the hands of the En'Thromii known as Fenris, brought on by an Ilume raid on the community in which Fenris dwelt. In the raid, Lelura, his mate and his children were slain and desecrated by Ilume warriors acting on direction from Marrok. The action resulted in the breaking of Fenris' mind and a one person retaliatory strike that was so barbaric and horrifying that it brought about the immediate cessation of hostilities between the Iluma and Nostra and the closure of the Portal-Mounds to the Wylds. To this day, there is unease between the three groups; Nostra, llume and En'Thromii because of the act of Fenris. While the conflict is long in the past, it is remembered no more strongly than by the bloodline of that Wolf and those who follow the Cult of the Destroyer. To them there is no forgiveness, there is no remorse, and there is no end. When the end of days comes to Unarath, the Si'dhae will all pay the Destroyer's Tribute and it is believed that when the last Si'dhae is slain, their blood shall restore Fenris to sanity, ending the threat he poses to Unarath. There is a long standing relationship between the Nostra and En'Thromii that has seen a lasting memory of good terms between the two peoples while the Ilume do not enjoy such an easy relationship. To this day the Ilume are actively hunted and slain by the Cult of Fenris who have never forgiven nor forgotten the crime committed against their progenitor. It is they who gave Marrok the name "Moonshadow" and "Deceiver" for his betrayal of his brother's people and family. It is believed that at the end of days, the blood of Marrok spilled on the chains of Lelura will restore their progenitor to sanity. Category:En'Thromii Lore Category:Fenris Category:Children of Fenris Category:Marrok Category:History of Unarath Category:Si'dhae Category:Conflicts Category:First Epoch Category:Major Events